The first abortion clinic on the island of Ireland opened Thursday in downtown Belfast, unleashing angry protests on the street and uniting Catholic and Protestant politicians in calls to investigate the new facility.

With a late November deadline looming, the Columbus mayor and council are in negotiations to spend the last of some general obligations bond money. The money will be used for street paving in some of the city's wards.

A Bangladeshi man snared in an FBI terror sting considered targeting a high-ranking government official and the New York Stock Exchange before authorities say he raised the bar by picking one New York City's most fortified sites: The Federal Reserve.

It's the latest snapshot of the growing burden of student debt and it's another discouraging one: Two-thirds of the national college class of 2011 finished school with loan debt, and those who borrowed walked off the graduation stage owing on average $26,600 -- up about 5 percent from the class before.

The outlook for the U.S. economy brightened a little after reports that consumer prices stayed tame and homebuilder confidence rose to the highest level in six years.
A third report showed factory output grew only modestly in September, a reminder that the economy is still weak.

As Chicago struggles to quell gang violence that has contributed to a jump in homicides, a top elected official wants to tax the sale of every bullet and firearm -- an effort even she acknowledges could spark a legal challenge.